'Hesher' Movie Featuring Music Of METALLICA To Be Released On DVD, Blu-Ray

July 12, 2011

METALLICA doesn't often grant permission for the use of its songs in movies, making just a handful of exceptions over its nearly 30-year career. But the group liked a recently released independent feature called "Hesher" enough to let the filmmakers use some of the band's music.

Featuring an all-star award-winning cast, Lionsgate debuts "Hesher" on DVD, Blu-ray disc, digital download and on demand this September. Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Inception") leads the dark comedy in the title role, an unconventional loner who is more interested in pyromania than finding a job. Also starring Rainn Wilson (TV's "The Office"),Devon Brochu ("In The Valley Of Elah") and Oscar winner Natalie Portman ("Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role", "Black Swan", 2010),this dark comedy meets fairy tale was a film festival favorite an official selection of South By Southwest, and nominated for the grand jury prize at Sundance in 2010. Hailed as a "delectably anarchic black comedyrefreshingly original" (New York Post),"Hesher", featuring deleted scenes, outtakes, cast and crew interviews, a sketch gallery and more, will be available on September 13 for the suggested retail price of $28.98 on DVD and $29.99 on Blu-ray disc.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the title character, and co-star Rainn Wilson of "The Office" recently spoke to ARTISTdirect.com about how METALLICA's music factored into the film, with Wilson even calling METALLICA "THE BEATLES of heavy metal." Watch the interview footage below.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt admitted he based much of his character's behavior on late METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton, who died when METALLICA's tour bus crashed in Sweden in 1986, and he was stunned when his rock idols recognized the similarities without prompting.

Gordon-Levitt said, "They dug the movie. It was a real honor and I took a lot of inspiration for this character from the basis of some of their early albums, this guy named Cliff Burton, who played on 'Master Of Puppets' and 'Ride The Lightning'. And when the band saw it, they were like, 'You know what?! He reminds us of Cliff,' and we didn't even tell them that's what we were going for. And they let us use their songs and I was actually moved because I grew up headbanging to METALLICA."

Gordon-Levitt previously said about the "Hesher" film "I loved making this movie, and I love how it turned out. It's hilarious, but it's not just funny, it's smart, it's sad, it's hopeful, it's heartfelt, and it fuckin' rocks . . . And, I'm humbled to say, METALLICA themselves liked it so much they gave us their music, they never give their stuff to movies!"

The film's title on all its advertising and marketing materials is done in the style of the METALLICA logo.

The official trailer for "Hesher" can be viewed below.

METALLICA songs have been used in documentaries like "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills" and "Absent", and the occasional feature film like "Zombieland".

Interview:

Trailer:

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).